Over the past three games, Clemson’s run defense has been fairly stout. However, it didn’t start out that way.
Wes Goodwin’s unit was surrendering an average of 183 rushing yards per contest over the first four games, which included Stanford chewing up the Clemson defense for 236 yards on the ground.
After a challenge from head coach Dabo Swinney, there has been a marked improvement over the past three weeks. It all started in Tallahassee when the Tigers held the Seminoles to just 22 rushing yards. The next week Wake Forest would run for only 87 and most recently Clemson limited Virginia to just 68. That last one saw dynamic quarterback Anthony Colandrea finishing with -7 yards.
“I feel like it is just a mindset,” defensive tackle Trè Williams said. “Coach Swinney challenged us as a whole entire defense and I feel like these last couple of weeks we have answered the bell.”
Although, as good as the Tigers have been defending the run of late, Williams and the rest of his teammates on that side of the ball are still not satisfied.
“But we are leaving a lot on the plate,” Williams added. “Our goal is we don’t want to give any rushing yards. That is not what we want to do. We don’t want to give up anything.”
Clemson having an off-date this weekend means now is an opportune time to fine-tune some of the details. Louisville is up next and the Cardinals will come to town with an offense that is racking up 460 yards per game, good for 18th in the country. The Cards are rushing for more than 160 yards per contest and 5.3 yards per carry, with running back Isaac Brown averaging an impressive 8.3 yards per attempt.
Louisville’s high-powered offense looks to be the Tigers’ biggest challenge since the season-opener against Georgia, and Williams wholeheartedly believes the defense will be up to the task.
“We got to be more stingy in how we approach it,” Williams said. “And that is what we have been doing.”
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